Getting them practising

Add a student — they start at their grade

Under Your family, add a student with a name and a grade. That is the whole record. They start on their grade's first category, and the next skill opens as they climb. There is no test to take first.

Three ways onto their device

From a student's page, choose Practise on their device for a one-time link and QR code. Open the link on their tablet or laptop, or let them scan the code with the camera — either way the device is signed in as them, with nothing to type.

Or set a Student login: a username and a password you choose. On a tablet or a computer they open Brainsladder, choose Student sign in, and type them. Devices & sign-ins, on the same page, lists every device signed in as them, with sign-out.

The daily goal

Every student has a daily goal — 1 star to begin with, which is one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed. From their page you can change what it counts (questions, right answers or stars) and how many. When they reach it they see “Done for today!” and choose to keep going or stop. Nothing locks; the goal is a finish line, not a fence.

Practice does not stop at a number. A student climbs until they choose to stop, or until the daily goal you set is met.

Practice packets

A packet is a short mixed-review set drawn from the skills a student has been practising in their current topic. One arrives every day with 10 questions to begin with. Under Practice packets on the student's page you set how often (every day, every other day, once a week, off) and how many (6–40), and can hand out one extra with New packet now.

Finishing a packet grades it — you and the student both see the percentage — and every missed question comes back as corrections until it is right. After two misses on the same question the worked answer is shown. A packet is achieved once every question in it has been answered correctly. Packets do not climb the ladder or earn stars; the log on the packets page keeps every one, with its first-pass score and the skills most missed.

Fluency sheets

A fluency sheet is one timed page of arithmetic a day, on a road of 36 stations from adding within ten to dividing decimals. It is the other half of practice: the ladder teaches a skill, and the sheet makes it quick. Your student's first sheets are short and find the station that fits them, one step at a time.

A sheet passes with all but one of the problems right inside the station's time, and two passes in a row move them to the next station. At most three sheets in a day, and once every station of an operation is passed, that operation joins the reviews: at most one review sheet every 14 days, the finished operations taking turns. Under Sheets on the student's page you can pause the whole track, or start it again; there is nothing else to set, and a sheet never earns a star.

Every sheet also prints. Press Print today's sheet under Sheets and you get the sheet on one page and its answer key on the next. When they have done it on paper, type in how many they got right and how many minutes it took, and the same standard applies.